Best of Intentions
by Shkooko
Summary: Being Tapper is a full-time job - you don't take a break even when the arcade closes. Your patrons don't get any less even when their games get unplugged. However, 'patron' and 'crasher' are two very different things.
1. Prologue

A.N: Hey, everybody! I just wanna say something quick beforehand: this fanfic is more like a collection of drabbles or snapshots over the years, not a novel-ish story. The whole idea started when I wanted to draw some wordless Wreck-it Ralph storyboards for art practice. The ideas were too jumbled in my head though, so I had to write them down in fanfic form first.

**The main characters in this story are Tapper and Turbo, but for the first few chapters until the heart of the story is reached, the focus will be distributed on many others, as well.**

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**Best of Intentions**

**Prologue**

As far as generic rules went inside game worlds, the occupation of a game character had a significant effect on what their personality shaped up to be. Tapper was very grateful for what he was programmed to be. He took pride in his quick reflexes, excellent memory, and the talent to accommodate everyone. Tapper did not gossip, or spill secrets - most importantly, listened to everyone regardless their position within their own games.

Other games were already there when he was first plugged in; Fix-It Felix Jr., Asteroids, Pacman, and TurboTime among a few others, and although Tapper felt it was – or rather _should_ be – his job to treat all characters that come into his game equally, and never to take sides...some had left their undeniable impression on him, and against his better judgment – had come to remember them much more fondly than others.

Litwak's arcade back then was quaint; everyone knew everyone else. But that did not mean there were no problems.

There was Wreck-it Ralph, antagonist of Fix-it Felix Jr. He had been one of Tapper's personal favorites for the longest time, but the large fellow was an outcast - shunned by his own game mates and a large portion of their community – fear of his impressive strength combined with a passionate nature. Another character who stood out was Turbo.

Like Fix-it Felix, Turbo was the title character of his game, but he had none of Fix-it Felix's (and most protagonists') humble, down-to-earth heroic aura. Turbo was loud, childish, and _very_ ambitious; a deadly combination.

**OoOoOoOoOo**

In those few early years, years the oldest games in the arcade would later remember like a faraway, nostalgic childhood, everything was alright. Even Ralph was happier then. Fix-it was renowned for being the best handyman in the arcade. Niceland was where the best pies were made. Clyde was the very first antagonist to make a public announcement of embracing his identity. Pacman was constantly hungry, and had to be banned from several games until he could control his appetite and differentiate between food and other game characters. Qbert was the cutest character of all, according to most. Turbo was the racer who loved attention and racing to the point of ridiculousness, but was too fickle to make close friends with anyone but the twin racers from his own game.

Amidst them all, Tapper's life was the most routine. Every day was more or less the same old same, both during _and_ after arcade hours.

And he was content with that.

The nature of his job and his own code made him dislike surprises, and he always thought it highly unlikely he would ever get involved in crazy shenanigans (oh, how wrong time proved him). The most interesting that had happened to him up till that point in time was the plugging in of the _SegaSonic the Hedgehog _prototype.

It was not long before the antagonist scientist of the new game warmed up enough to Tapper one evening to confess his helpless sense of unappreciation from his own game mates -

_"I have an I.Q of 300, Tapper. ! I have this lab - no, a_ city _of labs…with all these amazing gadgets no other character can even think up – things even our_ programmers _wouldn't be able to achieve in their own world for a hundred years!_

_And I get stuck with a pre-teen hedgehog whose hobby is to smash them!"_

_"Dr. Eggman, it's not exactly a hobby if it's his job.."_

_"He _enjoys _it! I know he does! He doesn't appreciate any of my robots even outside of game time! Every single animal in that game thinks of me as the Loony Scientist," he huffed dejectedly and leaned his face against his palm. "..Of **all **__the protagonists..I get stuck with one that can't even tell the difference between a car engine and a plane engine."_

_"Hey, EGGMAN! I've been lookin' all over!"_

_Eggman swore softly. Tapper turned to hide his smile, pretending not to have heard. "Here we go again…" Tapper looked around at the newcomer with curiosity._

_A small cobalt hedgehog with big spines and a short pointy tail trotted up to the rotund antagonist, carrying what looked like a black lump of metal and confused wires resting on a dirty green hankerchief. "Look at this - ya have any idea why ma plane engine won' work?"_

_"...it's in your_ hand _and not under your hood!"_

_"Oh…that's no good."_

Thus began Tapper's life sentence of being an on-the-side psychiatrist.

It was draining, and it didn't pay. But the happy, content faces of his visitors – good and bad, was always worth it. He was a good guy himself, after all.

**OoOoOoOoOo**


	2. Chapter 1

A.N: Beforehand, forgive my naming conventions. I should never be consulted to name a newborn, or a pet, or anybodyXD.

Chapter 1 sets a lot of things in the story, so I hope you enjoy! Please read and let me know what you think. I also want to add that the word 'game mates', and Turbo's favorite flavor of pie, I got from xxaemiliusxx, whose fanfiction and characterizations I love.

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**Chapter 1**

Tapper leaned his head on his palm, and watched his patrons with a slight, tired smile. It had been a hectic day. He'd handed out more food and drinks than he could keep track of, and with his limited cutlery supply, he was also a continuously-running dish washer; barely keeping up with the influx of orders. It was TurboTime's fifth anniversary, the Most Popular Game in the Arcade (also known as 'Litwak's Favorite' and 'Cash Machine'), and everybody was celebrating.

In front of Turbo and the Twins was an enormous cherry pie with _'Happy Anniversary, Turbo Racers'_ frosting across its warm surface. The heavenly smell filled the whole shop - Mary Niceland's pies really were something else.

The Twins - Rush and Vel, were all big smiles and blushing faces, thanking everybody and wishing them the same success. Turbo just basked in all the attention, grinning his wide, in-your-face yellow grin and posing with Fix-it to Gene's camera, his trademark thumbs up half-obscuring the shy handyman's face. Tapper chuckled to himself at how Turbo's eyes kept flitting to his favorite pie; Pacman was loitering _too_ close to it.

Sonic was discreetly planting firecrackers underneath all the chairs, a particularly big one under Eggman's. Tapper kept trying to catch his eye, glaring knowingly, but Sonic was either too engrossed in his latest prank or just pretended not to notice.

"Now, please Turbo - look this way! A portrait of the greatest racer the arcade's ever seen!" announced Joe Niceland, lifting up his Polaroid. "This is going up on your Wall of Fame, Tapper!" said man smiled and nodded his approval.

Grinning widely, the twins latched onto Turbo's arms, one on each side, and smiled for the camera.

"Get off, losers! He said _greatest_ racer!"

"You wouldn't even _be_ a racer without us!"

"This is for Tapper's Wall of Fame, not your stupid photo album!" He tried to pry them off, but they clung on stubbornly. Rush stuck out his tongue and Vel bumped his helmet against Turbo's playfully.

The picture indeed ended up being taken with all three of them after all, and a grumbling Turbo went back to his precious anniversary pie, plucking the kitchen knife out of Mary's hand without a _thank you_ to make the celebratory slicing himself while the twins looked on innocently, identical smirks across their faces. Pacman was staring at the pie with a look so disturbing Ralph had to shift away a couple good feet. As he did, something brushed past his heel, feather-light. He started, and looked down to barely glimpse a spiky ball of blue fur crawl soundlessly under Turbo's seat.

"Um, Sonic, what're you doing down there?" he asked a bit nervously, and a bit too late. A hissing sound and a spark of orange ignited underneath the racer's chair, and the long thread looping all around Tapper's shop caught the spark, with the fireworks starting right under Turbo's seat.

The very un-_turbotastic_ shriek that followed could have made gamers' hair turn white. Firecrackers shot off all around the shop till one could see nothing except explosions of color and fire spits. The noise was deafening. Within three seconds, everyone was screaming and tap dancing across the wooden floorboards.

Tapper stood still amidst the chaos, a grim expression clouding his dark blue eyes. He had not forgotten Dr. Eggman's story - no, _stories - _told to him over the past weeks; indeed, the hedgehog had a reckless streak, and an attitude to go with it. He was very popular - the arcade's baby, if one could call him that, and everyone loved him, but no one seemed to be doing anything about his blatant disregard for rules. His own game mates definitely had no control over him.

Sonic zipped through the counters and booths like a kid on Christmas morning, roaring with laughter and hollering, "_Yeeaaah_! Dance, everybody! _DANCE_!"

OoOoOoOoOo

It was not an unusual scene for some of Tapper's patrons to complain to him about Turbo's less-than-perfect personality. Whether it was his obsessiveness or his attention-seeking among other traits, Tapper as _always_ listened quietly, but neither agreed nor disagreed. How could he? Different personalities aside, Tapper could not imagine what he would do with himself if he did not have people come in daily to simply fill his life with…well, _life_. To acknowledge his presence; to make him feel like he was wanted. Although he never thought of himself as particularly affectionate or extroverted, not being visited or having friends who'd confide in him was an unbearable thought. Tapper hardly ever left his game if he could help it, so people just _had_ to come to him. An empty shop was utterly unacceptable.

At least Turbo had his twins. Tapper, on the other hand…was the _only_ character in his game.

During arcade hours, Tapper's job was to serve incoming clients as fast as he could before they got impatient and angry enough to throw him out of shop. The game would spawn 'characters' for him to serve, but there was always something off about them.

They would come in through the doors, bark orders, gobble them up and walk right out without even looking back.

When his game was first plugged in, Tapper had tried looking for them after Game Over. He would turn his game upside down, but they simply vanished by the time the arcade doors closed for the night. Tapper knew each of their profiles like the back of his hand. Whenever that quarter was pushed into the console slot, and those characters came through his doors, they did their programmed job without a hitch. And though he recognized each and every one of them every single time his game was played, none of them ever gave any indication of recognizing him.

He tried everything. He gave them names to call them by. They never answered, even when his throat was sore and his spirits in the gutter by the time characters from other games came in for a drink late after hours and looked him over in confusion and worry. Tapper never talked about himself.

Day after day went by, and the protagonist's frustration became unbearable. In rising desperation and recklessness – foreign and so unlike himself, he started calling out to his in-game patrons _during_ gameplay, because they always disappeared beyond the doors if he waited just one moment after game was over. Sometimes, he would push his luck and stand with them for a moment even after serving them what they asked, hoping for any response at all before the gamer would think anything was wrong.

Then came one day when he ignored his gamer's controls altogether, grabbed one of his game patron's shoulders and shook him hard, demanding he look at him for once in his life. The odd man – with a profile that looked oddly like Tapper's himself –pushed the hands clutching his shoulders off with barely an annoyed grimace and continued inhaling his food, not even looking up. Tapper didn't relent. He seized the man's head and forced him to look up - to look him straight in the eyes. To be thought malfunctioning for not moving with the gamer's commands was nothing compared to any kind of connection he could achieve with his own game mates right then - hell, Ralph's less-than-warm connections with his own was better than being completely ignored like this!

When he lifted that one patron's head to look into his eyes, the glass he'd been holding in his other hand slid from his shaking fingers, and crashed on the wooden boards, spraying water across the rich brown surface. Tapper stood there for a long time, hollow and devastated.

He never tried to make contact with his in-game patrons again.

OoOoOoOoOo

Tapper considered himself lucky – very lucky, that his game did not get unplugged on that fateful day when he went against the gamer and tried to look at one of his patrons. The gamer had apparently gotten bored with the 'lagging' and walked away, then a short while after, another quarter was inserted. And Tapper wasn't one to wallow on distress. In that short intermission he had calmed down just enough to do his job again, as efficiently as he was programmed to do. And no one from the other games need know anything. They knew better than to ask him, anyway. It was unspoken knowledge that the arcade's Tapper was very private, and talked very little about his personal life. To Tapper, that was not a bad thing at all. His happy customers were what mattered, and he made sure to keep them that way. If there was one he feared, it was loneliness.

A busy work day and an even busier night was a small price to pay, as long as his life was filled with friends, even if they were not from his own game. All in the nature of his code, he could only assume. His programmers were lazy and heartless, he thought, to make him to be dependent on others and yet give him no game mates of his own.

Well, humans are imperfect, after all.

As Time started on its job of healing, the shock and bitterness over his predicament started to ebb, and not a day passed from then onward when he was not thankful for his game being safe, stable and plugged in. He still had no game mates within his own home, but the day the arcade had become his world, all its inhabitants were his friends. It took a while to realize it, but for a long time afterwards, he was genuinely happy; the happiest game character in Litwak's Arcade.


	3. Chapter 2

A.N: Thanks for your feedback, everybody! I answered via PM, and if anybody has any more questions about the fic's events or characters, please ask.

I've got a question: do you know that feeling where you have interesting ideas in your head, but it's like all the language and vocabulary you've ever heard throughout your life is sucked out of your head? Do you have any tips, advice or resources that can help me? I can't amount to the fantastic artists/writers out there, and their beautiful ability to _convey_, but boy, do I try_, _you guys.

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**Chapter 2**

There came days when work at the arcade was very slow. There would be few gamers, and some consoles would not even be touched all day. But no matter the traffic..the Number One rule that applied to all, and was to be followed at all times was that '_no one_ is to leave their game until the arcade was closed'.

For the first time in his life, Tapper questioned his neutrality, and whether strictly keeping out of everybody's business really was what was best for the arcade.

Mere minutes after the arcade doors had been locked, Tapper could hear the steadily-rising buzz of activity gradually fill GCS, and some of his patrons had come in through his double doors for all the usual, but only few minutes had passed before he could no longer shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He could hear distant shouting. Tension. He sensed panic. Ralph, whom had come to him as soon as he could leave his game, had glanced at him in concern, and stood up, offering to go take a look, but that was right as a small, orange creature burst in through one of the doors, slightly panting.

"Qbert!" Tapper had said urgently, "what's going on out there?!"

The orange creature with the snout had started a stream of odd sounds and grunts, gesturing back at the doors he had come through urgently.

"I'm...!" Ralph had said with alarm. The only words he had managed to catch were _problem_, _game, _and_ murder_. "I didn't catch all that - "

"Sonic's game is out of order," Tapper had translated curtly, putting his cleaning rag aside and making for the exit. "No one knows where Sonic is, and Eggman has promised to murder him the moment he shows his face."

**OoOoOoOoOo**

"- and I work the damn hardest in this game! You don't see me running off, do you? _Do you_?" A couple of Sonic's in-game friends, a little armadillo and a tiny squirrel, only shook their heads jerkily, the squirrel too terrified to move and the armadillo trying hard to be brave for the both of them. "Not one of you appreciates a thing I do, but you know what? _I'm fine with that_!" shouted Eggman, face beet red, the vein in his temple throbbing for the steadily-growing crowd to see. The scientist was known to ramble when his nerves were shot. "I put up with his attitude and tolerate all his disrespect because _that is my job_, but this has gone too far! If none of you can control him, then _I will_!"

"Doctor, will you _please_ calm yourself down?" muttered Mary Niceland disapprovingly, "I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason for Sonic's absence...I hope he's okay, the _dear,_" She whispered the last statement worriedly to Gene.

Tapper arrived at the scene, and saw Eggman's blue eyes flash behind his dark glasses as he rounded on Mary. Gene let out a tiny squeak and pulled Mary away. "**This**! You see this is exactly why he thinks he owns the arcade! You all spoil him! Rotten! Just like _you_ do!" he pointed at the woman with an angry jerk of his gloved hand.

"Why, I never!" cried Gene in disdain, as if Eggman had just uttered a profanity. "Is this how you talk about your game's hero, you – you _villain_! How do we know you didn't have anything to do with this -?!"

Eggman went rigid. So did Ralph. And Coily. And Bowser. And every other antagonist who happened to be there. Everything stopped moving.

"#!&%..," breathed Qbert.

And then the scientist exploded. "_You call abandoning your game during arcade hours heroic_?!" he screamed, and Gene seemed to shrink into the floor in fear. "Our game is OUT OF ORDER! We'll be all homeless soon! How dare you accuse me? _What do YOU know about keeping a game running when you're just a _-"

"Eggman, that is ENOUGH!" shouted Tapper. He pushed through the restless crowd and came to stand between the scientist and the quavering Nicelander. "This has gone too far and you will both stop NOW."

"_Did you hear what he just said?_" said the scientist in a low, ominous tone, eyes boring into the Nicelander's own with a new - Tapper saw in alarming clarity - spite.

Gene also rushed to defend himself. "How in Litwak's Arcade is Sonic's absence **our** fault?!" he cried "Did you hear him blame Mary just now?"

"As the mayor of Niceland, Gene, I expected better of ya. How ungraceful," Tapper had never dissed a character before, but it was necessary that this behavior be labeled a shame before anyone could think of doing it again. "I can vouch for Dr. Eggman - he indeed works the hardest in their game, and has every right to be upset by this." He gave the mayor a hard look, and Gene looked away with an angry _humph!,_ embarrassed at being lectured, and by _Tapper_, no less. "Sonic should not have left his game during arcade hours. I hardly believe he meant any harm, but that is _inexcusable_, no matter who you are," Tapper announced loudly for everyone in the terminal to hear. "No excuses. _No exceptions_. Sonic has taken to doing whatever he likes and getting away with it, because none of us ever did a thing to tell him otherwise."

"He's..he's just a kid.." started Mary unsurely.

"Excuse me?" spat Eggman. "We. Are. _Game characters_. You don't seem to get the precariousness of the situation. Let me clarify this to all of you characters – in pretty little words you'll understand - Out of Order leads to unplugging. That's not taking a nap, sweethearts. Unplugging. Means. _Death_. "

Stunned silence.

"Dr. Eggman…you can't be serious! We can't know something like that for sure!" cried Ralph in an uncertain attempt at comfort. Several characters started murmuring and looking at each other and back again at the scientist, obviously unsettled.

"You can only respawn _inside_ your game! Lose that and you have no hope of coming back!"

"And how, pray tell, do you even know all this?" began Gene with a sneer, but was silenced by the withering look the blue-eyed man gave him.

Tapper turned back to Mary, and his hard gaze softened. "This's got nothing to do with age, Mary, we all know this. This is about the arcade, and keeping everyone safe. The rules are there for a reason, and personal freedom gives you no right to put others in danger.

Dr. Eggman and Sonic's friends are now in trouble. We must help find him."

"Where do we start looking..?" Inky, one of the ghosts of Pacman wondered loudly. Pacman nodded eagerly; he could finally be allowed to raid- er, _search_ the other games for foo –_ Sonic._

Tapper turned his blue gaze back onto the small armadillo: "Do you have any idea where Sonic could be?"

"I already asked them!" shouted the scientist, pulling at his comically-long moustache "they don't know _anything_!"

"Hush please, Doctor. Well?"

"I swear I don't know, sir!" said the deuteragonist "He didn't say; he leaves all the time! But this is the first time he doesn't come back before the arcade opens!" A couple of very small animals stood huddled together behind the armadillo and his squirrel companion, looking up at 'The Loony Scientist' fearfully.

"I'm – I'm scared!" squeaked one of them, a very small fox kitten. An NPC, Tapper could tell. "What if -!"

"He'll be fine, Tails," cut in Mighty firmly, his eyes only showing a hint of his own fear before he hid it. He turned around and gave the kit a big, confident smile. "Sonic's a hero. He doesn't get hurt easy. He just probably lost track of time running or…got a little lost helping somebody in another game or something." His gaze returned to the scientist, and his ears flattened a bit of their own accord at the glare he was receiving.

"You know Sonic doesn't stay in one place!" he said desperately, looking around him for any supportive gazes, "he has to keep on the move – it's just the way he is!"

"Don't I know it," the scientist said bitterly "does he even care what happens to his game?"

"_Doctor_," warned Tapper.

"Sonic _loves_ his game!" cried Ray the Squirrel, letting go of Mighty's arm in his indignation. "I know he's always off doing things his own way, but he would NEVER let anything bad happen to us! He'll be back to stop _you_ like he always does, so stop it! _Just stop it_!"

Well, damn.

After quite some more screaming, intercepting and lecturing, Tapper had successfully developed a very aching head, everyone a bad mood, and finally the crowd had begun to disperse, each character off looking for the missing hedgehog within their own games.

"We'll find him by the end of the night," Tapper promised, leaning down on one knee to look at Sonic's bright-eyed dependents levelly. "Your game won' be out of order forever."

The fox kitten looked up at the man, then back at his feet, ears low and the tell-tales of an upcoming sobbing session.

"Mister..?" whispered the other NPC, a small yellow kitten looking up at him from under a tuft of black hair. "What does 'out of order' mean?"

"Well, I'm not very sure little lady," said Tapper truthfully. "But it means that the gamers can't play it because it's not working right."

"But why is Doctor Eggman so _angry_?" she wondered in distress, paws pulling at the hems of her skirt. "When Sonic comes back, we won't be 'out of order' anymore, right? And gamers will wanna play our game, right?"

"Yes. So wipe those unhappy frowns. I know Dr. Eggman was angry, but it is because he doesn't like mistakes."

"He said he was gonna kill Sonic –" Tails remembered, looking terrified.

"He won't. I promise, he was just angry," he petted the fox's baby-soft head. "Eggman wouldn't hurt anyone. He loves his game just as much as your Sonic does. You'll see."

"Is it true, what he said..?" the fox asked, "About dying if the game is unplugged..?" Honey turned to look at her playmate and back up at Tapper, her eyes huge.

Tapper did not believe in lying to children. "I really don't know, little lady. No game's ever been unplugged in this arcade before..so no one really knows."

"Then why is he _saying_ it?!" wailed the kitten.

"Well..he's a scientist – a very smart scientist. People as smart as him tend to see and predict things before the rest of us, I guess."

"Does that mean that if we don't find Son-"

"We _will_ find Sonic. And your game will be just fine," he said firmly. "Now I want you kids to stay with Qbert, and do whatever he tells you, ok?"

The kittens were left with the little orange protagonist, and it wasn't long before their forlorn, scared faces eventually perked as he started playing with them. Tapper heard them giggle and squeal as Qbert blew bubbles from his snout. An adult would've probably found it gross, but these things didn't matter to children.

Game Central Station was buzzing. Characters moved briskly, entering and leaving games, stopping to exchange a few words, and promptly continuing with the search.

Thankfully, Sonic was found that very same night. But whatever it was that the entire arcade had been expecting, it was not the hedgehog curled up and snoring under the hot dog stand in TurboTime, a dozen chili dogs still in his limp arms.

**OoOoOoOoOo**

_Sonic only grinned and wiggled his index finger playfully at Turbo's dirty expression as the racer passed him in his race kart. A lot of people had claimed that the lead character of TurboTime held grudges, and apparently they were right, Sonic thought, but he didn't really care. Why should he worry? Life was too short to spend worrying about what others thought of you._

_The racer swerved suddenly to kick up oil in the hedgehog's face, but Sonic was not named Sonic for nothing. And he wasn't even a _racer_. He flashed him another cheeky grin a couple of yards away from where he once stood, enjoying the proverbial sight of steam coming out of the angry racer's ears._

_"Sonic, stop tormenting him or you're gonna have to watch your back," one of the twins said, coming up to stand beside him, watching the red-and-white-clad racer go round and round the track. "There's so much we can do to protect ya – he still hasn't abandoned his Grand Plan of Vengeance."_

_"Jeez, he still miffed 'bout that? I made your borin' anniversary party much more memorable; everyone thought it was a blast!" he said. The small hedgehog watched the other twin go after Turbo to try and pacify him enough to come over and welcome their guest 'civilly', and raised his gloved hands and started brushing his quills – a habit he'd developed. _

_"Well, _he_ thought it was humiliating, and by the way - he's been trying to get us involved in said plan ever since."_

_Sonic yawned widely, showing his small, pointy fangs. "What's 'is 'Grand Plan', anyway?"_

_"Humiliating you the same way you humiliated him," the blue-clad racer said simply with a grin, rolling his eyes. "duh."_

_"Eh. What a baby," shrugged the hedgehog. "I thought 'e had somethin' interestin' in mind – I woulda helped if it was fun!" he went on with his grooming for a few more moments, then turned to face Rush with a raised brow. "And you two are 'kay with all this? How can ya stand bein' with someone with a quill up his hindie all the time?" _

_"Heh, it takes a lot more than a short tempered control freak to rile either of us," said Rush with a laugh. "It's our programming, I guess..otherwise, who's gonna keep'im in line?"_

_"You bastards!" Turbo's voice floated back to them as he shouted at Vel, who'd finally caught up with him on the track and was trying to coax him into joining them. "What are you doing conforming with the enemy?!"_

_"…he sounds so betrayed," commented the hedgehog blandly._

_"He'll get over it. He can't stay angry at us forever."_

_"You backstabbers," went on the shortest racer in disgust, and Sonic was a bit startled when his keen ears picked up on another emotion underneath the anger – hurt. "why don't __**you**__ both go to his game if you love him so much?"_

_Vel had picked up on it, too. "Oh, come on Turbo. Don't be like that –"_

_"Just __**leave**__ me here!" the racer said with a bit of a childish wail, crossed his arms over his chest and looked fixedly at the dash of his race kart, his bright yellow eyes glaring and hot. Vel, who looked legitimately guilty, leaned over the car and tried to coax his game mate again._

_Sonic watched all that with a raised brow, admittedly a tad confused, and turned to look at Rush, only to see his companion also look like a guilty older sibling who'd pushed around their kid brother a bit too hard._

_"…Weeeeell, I can see by the ole guilt-trippin' trick that it's time for me ta split – "_

_"Not yet," said Rush suddenly, grabbing the hedgehog by the arm and pulling him along to join his brothers. "we need to finish this, and Turbs' gotta learn to get along with others."_

_"And stop being such a sore loser?" _

_"Yep, that too."_

_The hedgehog allowed himself to be pulled along, and turned his head this way and that, observing the pale racetracks and the rich green, but otherwise barren grassy planes that stretched around it and – _

_His ears perked up to their full height, and he dug his heels into the ground "Oooh, what's that over there?"_

_"Huh? Where?"_

_"Food! Is that – is that –"_

_"You mean the hot dog stand..?"_

_The hedgehog wrenched his arm back and flew towards the kart. He stood there looking at its contents with wide, eager eyes. His hand shot out to grab one, but then seemed to remember the good manners that _supposedly_ existed somewhere in the depths of his code, and turned to look at his host with wide, puppy eyes. _

_Vel came up to join his brother with Turbo in tow, and Rush breathed a sigh of relief. While Turbo looked neither happy nor welcoming, at least it looked like he was going to let Sonic live to see another day. _

_"Hey, help yourself," said Vel gently, pushing him closer to the kart. "we don't have much in the way of 'healthy food' here, but if you wanna try 'em-" _

_"Is there a chili bottle in this game?" interrupted Sonic in a breathless gasp. Rush and Vel looked at each other, and back at their friend._

_"Sonic, are you okay?"_

_"I will be if you tell me there's a chili bottle!" the he remembered his manners again, "er, please?"_

_"Uh," said Rush with no mild feeling of concern. "Sure thing. If you want 'em spicy.." Vel leaned down and pulled out the bottle from the kart's seasoning store, "..help yourself."_

_Sonic grabbed a hot dog off the stand. No sooner had he picked it up when another one, as tasty-looking and real as the one in his hand, appeared in its place. His large eyes bulged even further until both racers thought he was going to have a stroke._

_"S- Sonic?!"_

_Off in his own fantasy world already, he grabbed another hot dog in his other hand, and just like the first, it was immediately replaced. He stuffed both into his mouth to free his hands and started grabbing as many as his arms could hold. _

_"Whoa! Whoa, easy there, champ – they're not going anywhere! How many hot dogs does one little hedgehog need anyway?"_

_"How many does your game have?!" the hedgehog cried ecstatically as he splashed chili carelessly all over his food, and wolfed down the prizes like a starved animal._

_"__**Eww**__…you're even worse than Pacman!" muttered Rush. "You two act like you never see food in your own games!"_

_His mouth stuffed, Sonic explained (muzzle grossly dripping of the red chili sauce) that his game only provided his favorite treat on rare events, and it was only a couple at best each time. _

_"Aw, little guy - it's like your programmers dangling a carrot in your face all the time!" said Vel, shaking his head. He petted the hedgehog's head, forgetting for a moment Sonic's known discomfort at being petted, but the hedgehog was too engrossed in his food to feel anything. _

_"Look at his tail, it's wagging," whispered Vel to his brother. Rush noticed it, too. His face broke into a wide grin and he looked back at his twin._

_"He IS cute," they said in perfect unison._

_Turbo looked at them in disbelief, and gagged._


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"POSITIVE! HEDGEHOG LOCATED - HEDGEHOG LOCATED!" announced the mechanical voice of one of Eggman's search bots. It sped towards the entrance of TurboTime, followed by a couple others as a bright blue race kart came into view. Eggman's head whirled around so fast his own moustache slapped the sides of his face, and his snarl left no room to even hope that he was past his fury.

Said hedgehog hopped out of Rush's kart even before it stopped, and dodged groping mechanical arms, tentacles and programmers-knew-what-else with ease. He strutted across the station cheerfully, swallowing his last bite of chili dog.

"Oh! Oh, there he is!" Mary Niceland, who'd been rushing with everyone else in between games, stumbled to a halt when she spotted her 'baby'. She placed her dainty hands on her heart with relief. Gene snorted.

"About time. One more minute with that Loony Bin and _I_ would've become a bad guy!"

Upon seeing the blue hedgehog safe and sound, Qbert happily jumped to his feet and turned to wake the sleeping children that had snuggled against him for the night by his own game's outlet. The small fox poked his sleepy head out from between his thick twin tails and followed Qbert's gesturing. Beside him, Honey stirred as well.

Likewise, the rest of the characters rushing around the station stumbled to a stop , and soon relieved exclamations filled GCS. Some promptly departed to their own games to let everyone know that the search was finally over.

Sonic waved a hand dismissively at the characters pressing around him and demanding worriedly where he'd been. "Guuuys, I'm alright! You shouldn' ever hafta worry 'bout me! So, what I miss?"

Eggman stepped down from his hovering air mobile and stormed towards the blue hedgehog, a thunderous look behind his dark glasses. Tapper followed after him briskly, none-too-hopeful that Eggman would have anything resembling a civil conversation with his unruly game protagonist.

"The **Hell** have you been?" spat Eggman.

While characters shrank away in fear, others pressed closer to their hero protectively. Sonic only pouted a little, unimpressed, and placed his hands behind his head.

"Was eatin', then I took a nap. Somethin' up with that?"

For a moment, Eggman was speechless; astounded at the protagonist's utter lack of concern.

"Doctor. Doctor, your temper," implored Tapper.

"_You missed an entire working day. Does your pointy little head get what that means?_"

"..I los' track of the time. I didn' mean it if that's what you're implyin'," said Sonic, finally looking a tad more serious. "I told ya; I fell asleep after eatin'-"

"You are the most _pathetic_ excuse for a protagonist I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!" hissed Eggman. "You don't give a hack what happens to any of us, or to the game!"

"Hey now, come _on_!" The hedgehog said exasperatedly. "Ya don' have ta rub it in - I said I didn' mean ta - "

"_Our game is out of order! You don't get a second chance, rat!_"

"Doctor Eggman **stop** this right now," said Tapper sharply.

"I'm not a rat!" spat the hedgehog as his ears folded back and fur stood up. Mighty pressed in closer to Sonic, looking up at the scientist with angry, challenging eyes.

Mary shuffled up to stand in between the hedgehog and the scientist, and looked up at the latter defiantly: "You will stop this right now, Doctor!" she said resolutely even though her voice shook with fear. "I'll never let you hurt him!"

"Mary, get the heck away from him, he's _crazy_!" cried Gene, and tried to pull her away by the hem of her skirt.

"If I have to die, then so be it!"

Gene gaped. "Are _you_ crazy, woman?!"

"Doctor Eggman, if there's anyone to blame, it should be me."

Every head in the station turned to look at Rush, who had stepped out of his kart and moved towards them.

"WHAT?" cried Turbo from his seat on the kart's rear. "We had absolutely _nothing_ to do with th - Hey hey _hey_! No touching the kart you one-eyed _hack_!" He shouted at one of Eggman's bots curiously wrapping a tentacle around Rush's vehicle. He shoved it off with a disgusted look on his face.

"_Argh that thing's covered in slime! Gross gross GROSS -_!" and proceeded to wipe his hands on Vel's race suit.

"Arrggh **TURBO**!"

"What are you talking about?" said the scientist, looking down at the blue-clad racer suspiciously.

"We invited him to hang out," explained the racer. "He ate a lotta chili dogs then kinda...fell asleep under the hot dog stand. You could never see under there unless you squat - it's too dark. Me and my bros had gone racin' and when I didn't see him there during the laps I thought he'd left! I only realized he was still there when Turbo found him-"

Eggman reached out a hand and pulled the racer closer by the jumpsuit. Rush let out an involuntary sound of alarm as the antagonist brought their faces close.

"You _allowed_ him to eat as many chili dogs as he wanted?" He said sternly, as a scientist would when dissecting an astounding new piece of information for the first time. Tapper could almost hear the computational functions executing and concluding inside the genius creator's head.

Turbo, however, took it for assault.

"Let him go, you loon!" the racer - so small that the top of his helmet only barely reached up to the scientist's waist, jumped up out of his game mate's car and swung a small fist with all his might; a swing that took out one of Eggman's dark lenses.

Eggman was so surprised by the attack that he let go of the jumpsuit and staggered back a step. Characters either squealed or stood in shocked silence; others swore. The antagonist took off his glasses and looked at them, dumbfounded.

"You...those were my favorite pair."

"Holy...he actually has _eyes_," whispered Gene to Joe Niceland in horror. Turbo grabbed the back of his game mate's jumpsuit and pulled them both back, eyes on Eggman like he was a loose wild animal. Turbo definitely didn't like the scientist any more than he liked Sonic.

"RED CODE! ALERT! ALERT!" screeched the main search bot, a huge contraption with gleaming red eyes and enormous hooked claws for limbs. It rotated its head madly all around the station, like a demented lighthouse. All sixteen bots turned around and froze in attention. "DOCTOR EGGMAN ATTACKED! ATTACK MODE ACTIVATED!"

"**No**! No no no wait wait _**WAIT**_-!" screamed the Doctor in horror, to try and stop the loyal creations from aggression, but it was too late.

The one-eyed bot that was in love with Rush's kart turned around to reveal its large iris, and a beam of red laser shot through the station.

Without thinking, Eggman bonked Tapper on the head, hard. The barman made a choked sound of surprise, and like a reflex action, dropped to the floor like a stone as the laser beam tore over his head.

The bots launched into attack, and Game Central Station was thrown into battlefield mode in seconds, with Eggman screaming (along with everybody else) futilely at his creations to stop.

"Nice job bringin' your robots out into a station fulla people, Egghead! _Pure genius_!" shouted Sonic over the growing chaos, all his quills on end. Faster than the eye could see, the hedgehog rolled into a powerful living saw, and ripped through three bots before they could launch their own attacks.

Noise rose to a deafening, incomprehensible pitch. Tapper scrambled painfully to his knees, and moaned unhappily as his vision swam and nausea began to take hold. A mild glitch ran down his spine. Characters ran by him, shouting, barking orders, using their signature powers and attacks. He saw (what he thought was) Mighty the Armadillo grabbing the tentacle of one robot, and with strength so impressive for an armadillo his small size, brought it to the ground. Ray the Squirrel came down from above, and with pinpoint-precision, took out the bot's laser emitters with two fast kicks. Somewhere, Mayor Gene was being quite liberal with the words coming out of his mouth.

"Mary! _Mary, look out!_" came Sonic's frantic shout from somewhere far ahead.

Tapper turned his head frantically, but his vision muddled even more at the sudden movement. He heard the crash of an enormous weight against the ground, and his heart jumped in fear.

"Mary?" he called out hoarsely.

"Gotcha!" Sonic's voice said triumphantly, and he barely saw a blue blur running by with the Nicelander in his arms.

Tapper closed his eyes for a moment, and tried to will down the nauseous sensation roiling inside his body, but perked up at the panicked sound of Qbert's difficult language. His little friend was screaming for help amidst all the chaos and blurs and screaming, but no one was paying attention.

The barman tried to stand up, but when another glitch ran down his back, he stumbled into the nearest wall. Hoisting himself up again, he half-dragged his feet to where Qbert's SOS was sounding.

The orange protagonist was backed into a corner by some game outlet, where he stood over the two children – Honey and Tails.

Tails was stubbornly trying to get away, to go help his 'big-bro' fight. Qbert pushed him roughly back with his snout and hissed at him. The bot cornering them slid open a third eye on its blank face, and a bright red laser beam began to load.

"Ge-get away from them!" cried the man hoarsely. He pushed himself off the wall and into the space between the trapped characters and the bot's talon-like feet. Qbert made a terrified sound of protest that Tapper ignored. He swung at the metallic body, but all that resulted was a weak, dull sound and Tapper's own hoarse cry as his tender knuckles flared with a new pain. But he didn't relent; he brought his foot up and kicked. And again he punched and he kicked; not once did the search bot give any indication of feeling his feeble attempts at attacking it. His heart wrenched with desperation, and his lungs burned with lack of breath; terribly out of his element he was.

He could hear Qbert behind him very well – every terrified word that came out of his friend's snout translated perfectly in his head, but he refused to stand by and do nothing. Everybody was out there fighting, risking their lives for their games and their friends, while he was trying hard to only keep his own stomach from spilling its contents – all because of a slight hit on the head.

What could he do? He had no special abilities. No super strength like Ralph, or super speed like Sonic, or super intelligence like Eggman...

"Make way, _amico_!" came a very familiar shout from his right. Tapper barely dodged clumsily aside as a red-and-white figure dashed by him and used his momentum to jump a gravity-defying thirteen feet into the air and shoot three fiery masses into the laser eye with scary precision. With a triumphant shout, the character shot three more fireballs between the robot's default two eyes, and the disabled contraption came crashing to the ground, it's most important circuitry destroyed.

"Mario!" gasped Tapper. "Am I glad to see you!"

The protagonist turned to look at his friend, and furrowed his thick black eyebrows at his weakened state. He saw Tapper's knuckles, red, dirty and swollen, and launched into an angry English-Italian rant.

"_Siete molto __**spericolata**__ omo_! What'chou think you could do against _that_?" he waved his hands furiously towards the still robot. Mario very much talked with his hands. "_Cosa?_ What-e were you thinking? _Vuoi essere distruggere?!_" he dodged a stray flying metal shard. "Because that's what will happen next time-a you try to be hero! Now get inside-a game! _March_! And Qbert, too! _March_! Babies. _**March**_!"

"Bossy," muttered Tapper, but allowed the hot-blooded protagonist to loop an arm around him and drag him to safety, too exhausted to put up a fight. Qbert followed dutifully with the two kittens, who were gazing at their unfamiliar savior with wide, awestruck eyes.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Tapper weakly.

"_Bello_," said the plumber dismissively. "Don'te worry. Sonic an' I more than capable o' taking care of our arcade, _amigo_. You. _Rest_," and with that, Mario pushed the man into a very familiar chair. Tapper then realized, with no small amount of surprise, that he was back in his own game. Of all places the rampant search bot had cornered them; it was right by _his_ _own game outlet._

He really must have been out of it.

"Mario…" he protested "Everybody else - ?"

"_Me an' Sonic take care of it_," repeated Mario sternly. "Rest. Qbert – look after Tapper. Babies, be good."

The kittens nodded, their eyes still impossibly wide, as the protagonist rushed out into battle once more.

"Did you see that?" shrieked Tails to his kitten playmate. "That was – that was _so cool_!"

_Just don't let Sonic hear you say that_, Tapper thought as he rested his head in his palm. Trying to ignore the nausea that still had not gone away, he smiled softly at the two youngsters as they hopped onto the counter and gushed to him animatedly about their new hero, and play-acted their rescue.

He smiled at the sweet little souls, and the throbbing pain gradually began to feel farther and farther away, because soon he could hear the contagious hollers of victory fill all of GCS.

**OoOoOoOoOo**

"I can't believe I missed out on all that! I mean…jiminy _jaminy_.."

"Trust me Felix – it's better you weren't out there! It was mayhem! Absolute _destruction_!" Gene waved his arms dramatically as he rolled his eyes upwards towards the ceiling of Tapper's. "It was so wrong on so many levels – I've never been inside Sonic's game before so I don't know what kind of hell happens there on a daily basis, but that kid is a hero. _A hero_, I tell you! Those monstrosities shouldn't even exist, game or no game! You…you're not made to destroy things, Felix – you _fix_ things -"

"And for that we're the luckiest NPCs to have ya," finished Joe Niceland sincerely.

Gene nodded. "Yeah. The point is, you wouldn't have been able to do much out there – it was the freakin' Arcade Apocalypse! I seriously thought we were all gonna _die_!"

Still, Fix-it Felix's clear blue eyes looked a tad troubled. He finished up by lifting Tapper's left palm carefully and tapping each knuckle very gently with his golden hammer, and then proceeded to do the same on the right.

"Thanks, Felix," sighed Tapper as he rubbed them and felt almost no pain.

"Oh my pleasure, Tapper. I just..I wish I coulda done something more.."

Tapper shook his head. "You're doing the one job no one else in this arcade can do, and it's the most important one, so stop putting yourself down. Mayor Gene's right – it wasn' exactly fun. And trust me when I tell ya – with all due respect – you are not cut out for that kinda thing – destroying and blowing things up..I mean, look at me – I did nothing at all and I was a mess."

"You tried to protect Qbert, Tapper! That's not 'nothing'!"

"I just stood in the way. If it weren't for Mario over there, both of us coulda been goners, and those little children…they coulda died, too.

I could barely keep my own lunch down _and_ stay conscious, Felix..turns out I'm utterly useless in these kinds of situations."

Felix opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say, and Tapper felt guilty dumping those depressing thoughts to him – Felix shouldn't be worried about making him feel better – nobody was.

"Say," he said kindly to break the handyman's uncomfortable situation. "You've already seen to everybody's wounds, right? Have something to drink, _my_ recommendation – you must be exhausted!"

The place was almost as crowded as it had been on TurboTime's anniversary party, and since the arcade would not open for a couple more hours, Tapper knew he was in for another busy, busy night. He made an especially luxurious drink for the sweet handyman and excused himself briskly.

Of course, it goes without saying that Sonic got away with it again. No one but Eggman and Tapper seemed to remember that this chaotic chapter in their lives would never have happened in the first place if Sonic was where he should be during game time, although the man did not miss the spiteful look Turbo was giving the hedgehog from where he was huddled between two very disheveled, exhausted twins.

The day ended with the speedster being an even bigger hero than ever before, adored by all, and Eggman more of a bad guy (and more feared) than ever before. People barely looked at him. The scientist sat alone on a high stool, his usual favorite spot where he would talk with Tapper – about the only friend he had – whenever the man could spare a few minutes. Even Tapper had to admit; it wasn't fair. He loved Sonic – it was so hard not to, but it wasn't fair.

He would have to do something about it, soon.

**OoOoOoOoOo**

Next day morning came, and gamers gradually started to pour into the arcade.

No one knew what was going to happen with Sonic's game, and Tapper found himself praying fervently that Mr. Litwak would at least look at the console screen one more time before he thinks of pulling the plug. Even during game time, he prayed silently. He didn't forget Eggman's words about unplugging, and if no one else in the arcade was willing to listen to that mad 'Loony Scientist', Tapper knew he understood what he was talking about.

When _SegaSonic_'s simple music started to fill the arcade along with everybody's else's, and the game's dedicated fans cheered, his heart soared in relief, and some part of him thought, _I haven't felt this happy in some time_.

The inner sense of peace was promptly and rudely interrupted by some kid at the console. "Mr. LITWAAK! Did somebody play with the Difficulty levels again?"

For someone who was very mindful of their game's perfect functioning, Eggman indeed looked like a lunatic antagonist set on Insane Mode. Tapper swallowed hard as he watched from his own console screen and admittedly, shrunk inwardly at the scientist's demented laughter as Sonic lost his rings again. And again. And again.


End file.
